I have infinite love for S.M.A.S.H. on Netflix. And Kyle Mooney is a delight -- I'm actually mad in advance that the coming fiftieth anniversary SNL special will probably spend NO time on Mooney's eight years on the show in favor of a cameo by, like, George Clooney or someone who similarly has very little to do with the actual show.
It occurs to me that Mooney is nostalgic for endings, particularly the ones imposed artificially -- shows going away or being cancelled, character inexplicably growing out of what the viewer expects. I don't get the sense from Y2K that there's a real ending for Mooney to fixate on. It doesn't work. I don't even know if he can direct. This was a huge bummer, mostly because it felt like Mooney hiding his freak flag a little. Wish he wouldn't.
That's an excellent point, too. The ending here certainly didn't feel like it came from Mooney's brain, but to the point of artificial endings, there was another line that Mooney seemed to want to play upon in this film in the vein of "Everything is the exact same as it's always been, just moreso."
That headspace, I think, was the key to ending Y2K on a hopeful note for teen viewers in particular; "the last generation survived one perceived-or-literal apocalypse, who says we can't survive another?" It could also be said that the ending we got is cliche to the point of feeling artificial, but if any of this is what Mooney was going for, he didn't lay it on nearly thick enough (or maybe it was lost in the final cut)
I have infinite love for S.M.A.S.H. on Netflix. And Kyle Mooney is a delight -- I'm actually mad in advance that the coming fiftieth anniversary SNL special will probably spend NO time on Mooney's eight years on the show in favor of a cameo by, like, George Clooney or someone who similarly has very little to do with the actual show.
It occurs to me that Mooney is nostalgic for endings, particularly the ones imposed artificially -- shows going away or being cancelled, character inexplicably growing out of what the viewer expects. I don't get the sense from Y2K that there's a real ending for Mooney to fixate on. It doesn't work. I don't even know if he can direct. This was a huge bummer, mostly because it felt like Mooney hiding his freak flag a little. Wish he wouldn't.
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That's an excellent point, too. The ending here certainly didn't feel like it came from Mooney's brain, but to the point of artificial endings, there was another line that Mooney seemed to want to play upon in this film in the vein of "Everything is the exact same as it's always been, just moreso."
That headspace, I think, was the key to ending Y2K on a hopeful note for teen viewers in particular; "the last generation survived one perceived-or-literal apocalypse, who says we can't survive another?" It could also be said that the ending we got is cliche to the point of feeling artificial, but if any of this is what Mooney was going for, he didn't lay it on nearly thick enough (or maybe it was lost in the final cut)